For our first day at Disney World, we woke up early for rope drop at Magic Kingdom. Before we even left our hotel room, we got on the My Disney Experience app to try to get a virtual queue reservation for the newest attraction in the park, Tron. Unfortunately, all the spots filled up in one second. We still had a second chance to get a spot at 1 pm or we could buy a Lightning Lane reservation for $30 per person. This was the first inkling that we had that the parks were going to be busy this weekend.
Once we got to the park, we headed for tomorrowland and waiting for the park to open, so we could get our first ride on Space Mountain! We caught a beautiful sunrise over Astro Orbiter while we waited (left). We got on Space Mountain pretty quick, but when we got out, the line was already 30 minutes long but Buzz Lightyear was only 10 so we saved the galaxy and then headed to Fantastyland and walked right on Journey of the Little Mermaid. From there, the wait was short for Haunted Mansion, so we headed there and got through the stretching room and it broke down. We were stuck for probably ten minutes in a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd in the loading area. We eventually got on the ride and then it was time for our breakfast Nutella Waffle at Sleepy Hollow. We got all of the done in the first hour and half the park was open.
After the first hour of so, the crowds got bigger and the waits got much longer. The good thing about Magic Kingdom is there are plenty of attractions that large capacity, so even when the headliners get busy, there is still plenty to do without too much of a wait. We headed back to tomorrowland and got our first ride of the trip on the PeopleMover and then rode Carosel of Progress and Monsters Inc Laugh Floor (I got picked which caught me off guard). We did a loop on the Walt Disney World Railroad and then got lunch at Casey’s Corner (corn dog nuggets and pulled pork fries were delicious). At that point, there wasn’t much with short waits, but we needed to be in the park at 1:00 to try again for a Virtual Queue for Tron, so we waited a bit for the PeopleMover again and managed to score a Virtual Queue right after we came out of Space Mountain.
Virtual Queue acquired, we hopped over to EPCOT so I could get the Festival of the Arts Figment Popcorn Bucket. We went on a few rides and then took our first Skyliner ride back to Pop Century so we could drop off my popcorn bucket and rest a little before dinner. It felt like we were barely back in the room when it was time to head back to Magic Kingdom for dinner at Skipper Canteen, which is the best Table Service restaurant in Magic Kingdom, in my opinion. It was almost time for the fireworks, but we are not ones to stake out a fireworks spots hours in advance, so we rode a few more rides and then found a spot in Fantasyland, near the carousel for the show. Now, this was probably not the best spot to see Happily Ever After for the first time. You can’t see the projections on the castle at all. But, it was a really cool perspective with fireworks being shot off all around us.
After the fireworks, the park really emptied out. We rode Pirates of the Caribbean and Space Mountain before our Virtual Queue was called and we headed to Tron. Even though we had the virtual queue reservation, we waited about an hour for the ride and the ride itself was very short. Tron has an interesting ride vehicle which is kind of like if you were securely attached to a bicycle on a rollercoaster track. The launch has probably the most intense of all Disney Rollercoasters (possibly excluding Rock n Rollercoaster), but the track was incredibly smooth. All-in-all, I am glad we rode it, but I don’t know if it was worth the wait and I’m glad we didn’t pay for a Lightning Lane to ride it.
Afterward, we had time for one more attraction before the park closed and we practically ran to Jungle Cruise for the last boat of the night. I felt like we were riding with a bunch of Jungle Cruise nerds. It was one of the best Jungle Cruise experiences I have ever had. After we made it back, we stumbled exhausted to the bus stop for our ride back to Pop Century for a few hours of shut eye before another day of Disney craziness.
Overall, even with the crowds, we were able to do pretty much everything we wanted to in Magic Kingdom, with the exception of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which we hit later in the trip, and 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, which I wanted to ride again but after our experience in 2010, I will only ride with a short wait. Be sure to check back next week as we enjoy a rainy day at Epcot.
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